FBI Director Christopher Wray told lawmakers at a hearing Friday that the agency has noted “quite a number” of instances of individuals deeply indebted to Mexican criminal organizations entering the United States, adding that there’s “no question” cartel activity is spilling over the border.
Wray made the remarks at a hearing before the House Judiciary Committee, in response to a question by Rep. Tom McClintock (R-Calif.), who asked about the link between cartel activity and the flow of illegal immigrants across the southern border.
FBI Director Christopher Wray told lawmakers at a hearing Friday that the agency has noted “quite a number” of instances of individuals deeply indebted to Mexican criminal organizations entering the United States, adding that there’s “no question” cartel activity is spilling over the border.
Wray made the remarks at a hearing before the House Judiciary Committee, in response to a question by Rep. Tom McClintock (R-Calif.), who asked about the link between cartel activity and the flow of illegal immigrants across the southern border.
In May, DHS officials warned that Mexico’s fastest-rising drug cartel, the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, or CJNG, was trying to gain a foothold in the Seattle area and the Pacific Northwest.
Wray added that, “there’s no question that the cartel activity on the other side of the border is spilling over in all sorts of ways and you just put your finger directly on one that is extremely concerning to us all,” referring to people indebted to cartels being forced into what amounts to modern-day slavery.
McClintock concluded that “basically, 170-plus years after the Thirteenth Amendment have slavery burgeoning in this country as a result of these policies,” presumably referring to the Biden administration’s policies on immigration.
It’s a “modern form of slavery,” Wray said, adding, “it’s almost Medieval.”
Republicans have blamed the border surge on the Biden administration’s rolling back of some Trump-era policies and on messaging that they say is being interpreted by would-be migrants and human traffickers as encouraging illegal crossings.
BY TOM OZIMEK
